FA Youth Cup Final: Arsenal vs Liverpool

Sunu may get the nod ahead of Sachez Watt, but both are quite deserving of their selection in the starting – you may see Lansbury on the bench if form throws Watt into the team.
Frimong is a good friend with Thomas Ince, who players for Liverpool (Paul Ince’s son) and will go up head to head with him in midfield.

“I’m going to be playing against Thomas because he plays just off the striker. I’ll be facing him during the game and I’m hope that I can play better than him and stop him playing for Liverpool. I have played with him in the same England team – that’s how I know him. He’s always texting me about the game, when I’m sleeping or when I’m waking up in the morning I’ll get a message saying ‘see you there!’ He is giving me something to look forward to and hopefully I can keep him quiet on the day.”

I’ve got a massive ammout of work to do, it’s ridiculous, but I should be going down to support the boys! They’ve been awesome this season and I’m sure tomorrow’ll be no different. It’ll be interesting to see who (if any) breaks into the first team next season. Goodluck guys!

chris

< ![CDATA[I have been scrolling some of the past few articles on here and been reading some of the comments made. Absolutely out of this world.
I'm astonished at the deluded attitude of some Arsenal supporters, who believe that it is the plastics who support Wenger, while the true fans want him gone. In 2001 I was walking with thousands of fans to Cardiff station from the Millennium Stadium, where we had just witnessed Arsenal losing to Liverpool in the FA Cup Final, having dominated the match. One of the sort of foul-mouthed, morbidly obese, instant-gratification thumbsuckers that you sadly see everywhere these days began running amok, kicking rubbish bins and yelling that we should sack the manager. At the time we'd won nothing for three years. The following year we won the Double. Two years after that, we won the league unbeaten. I've attended pretty much every home game for well over a decade, and enjoyed some of the most brilliant football ever known to man, thanks to Arsene Wenger. While we have the right to question some of his decisions, such as signing Silvestre or letting Flamini go, we have no God-given entitlement to silverware, and the manager is not responsible for your emotional comfort when you walk into your workplace on a Monday morning and face taunts from the Chelsea fans. This is something you have to learn to deal with yourself.
I for one am profoundly grateful to AW, and will continue to believe in his project, to which I am sure he will bring the necessary modifications, since he is manifestly not a fool. There is no better manager in the world game, and Real Madrid among others know this.
This is why I shall be joining the pro-Wenger march on the Holloway Road side of the ground pre-match this Sunday, organised by REDaction, who are our (in the nicest sense) ultras, the people who sing all match long, don't boo the players and never leave early. They, and not you, are the true face of Arsenal support, and are pretty obviously not plastics. I urge all other true fans to join us.]]>

Fabrez

Well said Chris…unfortunately, I won’t b able to come! But i support Wenger without a shout of a doubt. And Debs…i guess u r talking about uni work huh? My exams r finally finished! 😛 lol All the best with it tho…and if u do get to go to the march, tell us what it was like!

Fabrez

*if u get to go to the game, tell us wat is what like!

Fabrez

All the best to the boys!!!

chris

Dev, I just googled that Blaise Matuidi you’re talking about. There’s a Sun article from October last year linking him to us. Thing is, he’s only 5 foot six ins. according to Wikipedia and since we need a defensive midfielder I reckon he’s a bit on the short side. Neither Arshavin, Nasri, Walcott or Fabregas are tall. I really think we need a bigger lad there.

chris

< ![CDATA[isn’t Ade th top scorer this season? (correct if wrong). considering tht he was out for close to 2 months, tht is an achievement u shld have at least pointed out SF!
I repeat, if Ade is sold, arsenal will not challenge convincingly nxt season.
just think of who could replace him. Bentdner, too slow nd not yet there, eduardo nd arshavin r great strikers but they are tiny nd will be kicked around in th EPL, RVP is too slow, bad in th air nd he just didn’t step up this season, walcot is fast enough but again lack in physique! all am saying is tht Ade has all th qualities expected in an EPL striker nd letting him go will b a mistake unless he’s replaced by a Torres or Rooney or Drogba like striker.
I agree tht Ade lacks in discipline nd maturity off th pitch but it is easier tweaking him than buying another striker.]]>

debs

< ![CDATA[Thanks Fabrez, and yeah, it's uni work. Your exams are finished, lucky for some-mine start on wednesday :(
Definitely going to the game- I giving myself the right to have a break! lol. Went for the second leg of the semis and it was a decent game, but I expect this to be better.
Definitely not going for the march though, seeing as I don't even live in London, but as always, I'm 110% behind Wenger, and it's nice that the fans are showing him some appreciation, even though we didn't win anything yet again. I think even though he's got the backing of most people, he needs that visible support every now and again.]]>

debs

And no, Chris, Van Persie’s the top scorer this season- 2 goals more.

Pete

< ![CDATA[Definately back Wenger all the way.
Hope there's a good turnout for the march!]]>

Gooner Get Ya

< ![CDATA["They, and not you, are the true face of Arsenal support" Not sure what makes them a true supporter chris. People like you really get me mad, you think because you attend every home game some how makes you a better fan then some one who unfortunately cant afford to travel down and watch week in, week out. IDIOT!!!
I have been an Arsenal supporter pretty much all my life and was even once a mascot back when I was a lad but because I dnt watch them live at the ground my opinions are not valid.]]>

debs

< ![CDATA[I went for the match, Fabrez, and it was a really good one- impressive performances all round. And to see so many poeple there was quite good.
I didn't get there until about 20mins after kick-off cos my coach was late, but it was like the perfect timing, cos just as soon as I was settled in my seat, we scored the first. It was a well-worked goal, like most of the others. Then there was the penalty, even though the Liverpool dude ought to have been sent off cos I think he was the last man or it was not a great tackle or something. Even their 'keeper should have been sent off in the 2nd half, but I think the ref let him off with a yellow cos we were 4-1 up at the time. Liverpool coudn't live with us and the 2nd half was 100% Arsenal, and we could have scored more, if not for some good defending and goalkeeping. Rhys Murphy came on late and I knew he was going to score- which he did, only for the linesman to raise his flag, even though he was onside.
Wilshere was at his best yet again and he was involved in practically all the goals. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas' goal was a brilliant header and Watt's chip was Vela-esque. Kyle Bartley was excellent in defence- he won every single header, and even when he had a chance to score in the 2nd half, he headed it away ass if for a corner cos I think he still had his defensive hat on! lol. He sort of reminds me of Van Persie, just in his build though, but he did lead the back really well. The 'keeper didn't have a lot to do thanks to the defence.
Jack definitely gets my vote for man-of-the-match cos he was absolutely committed and everything seemed to go through him- he was excellent on and off the ball and always tracked back and he got a thoroughly deserved standing-ovation when he was replaced. I think he was the one who gave away the ball which led to Liverpool's only goal (which was a really good strick by the way), but he didn't let his head drop and he just continued with the game. He definitely pulled the strings there to perfection. Sanchez Watt also gets a mention cos he played really well, even though he started on the bench. He's got good link-up play and I think he and Jay Thomas have really good understanding. Jay Thomas was outstanding also and is my alternative man-of-the-match. He used his strength really well and led the team from the front.
It definitely is a very very strong squad, and they ALL did themselves justice today. It'll be interesting to see who makes the first-team grade soonest, but most of them, I think, are definitely going to be premier league class sooner, rather than later.
I'm definitely glad I went, but now it's back to the reality of all-nighters! Oh, my claim to fame today is that I ended up seating a few rows away from Mark Randall in the upper tier! Suprised he wasn't seating in the lower tier maybe with the other reserve players not playing today or something. But it was interesting seeing his reaction to the team's performance. He seems a pretty calm and mature dude though.]]>

Shawn

hey guys . . . i just woke up its about 7:20am here in South Africa and i’ve just been reflecting on this season and i’ve come to the conclusion that we have failed as fans this season. I’m talking specifically about how we(the fans in general) have treated our player this season . . . looking back on the Eboue incident and now Adebayor, these guys aren’t exactly my favourite players but we should NEVER boo our own players as a result of this we(again speaking in general) have caused some problems at the Emirates. I know everyone has been disappointed with the last 4 seasons and rightly so but it would be sad to see a player leave because of the fans.

http://kierandelaney.net/ kierandelaney.net/blog

Anywhere I can see highlights? I was at job #2 last night, and they don’t have Setanta.

debs

I’m sure ATVO should have it up sometime soon. They always do…

Fabrez

< ![CDATA[Cool debs! That was an analysis and a half! :P But cool. I was following it on ATVO and the atmosphere sounded amazing! We had 33,000 or so and that is top-class for a youth game! I was quite hyped up myself just hearing the crowd in the background. It pretty much sounded like everyone was on point in terms of the players. Shame for Frimpong being taken off but good stuff going by what I heard and what u r saying debs.
Wilshere sounds like he was top class...typical Arsenal player... A gem for the future! I'm really excited...the future or Arsenal is indeed bright! But yes...the all-nighters are never nice...had a few late nights of my own...but it will b over soon enuff I'd imagine! Oh yeah...Arsene was there...no doubt he would have been proud of the lads too...shame I couldn't come but I want to make some trips up to North Ldn for some of nxt season's prem games! I'm quite excited....just hope the transfers this summer compliment my excitement! lol]]>

debs

< ![CDATA[Lol. I guess I got a bit carried away there! The stadium being more than half-full was prettty impressive, and the boys didn't dissapoint.
And the all-nighters, I quite like them, weirdly enough! lol. And there's always one sport or the other to keep me busy during the day so day-time study's almost impossible!
And yeah, excitement is not really the best advice for us Arsenal fans during summer cos you just never know! lol. You've got to wait until the Arsenal website posts something up cos you'd never hear anything concrete. But it'll be an interesting summer no doubt!]]>

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